When this campaign started 7 or 8 years ago, the conventional wisdom was Hillary’s organization and fund raising prowess would swamp the Democratic field.

Well something funny happened on the way to her coronation…Barrack Obama showed up. Now he’s flush with cash and she’s dropping her own money into the coffers.

"Late last month Sen. Clinton loaned her campaign $5 million," Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said late yesterday, after he was first questioned about possible Clinton-self-financing in a conference call with reporters.

"The loan illustrates Sen. Clinton's commitment to this effort and to ensuring that our campaign has the resources it needs to compete and win across this nation," he added.

Her senior campaign staff is now working on a volunteer basis.

Obama meanwhile has already raised over $2 million dollars in the first week of February as a follow up to his $30 million take in January. And the most amazing thing?

...according to the Obama campaign, only 3 percent of his donors have given the maximum $2,300 donation for the primary.

…In contrast, Clinton raised about half of her money from donors who gave the maximum.

More striking, the report found that nearly half of Obama’s individual contributors in the fourth quarter of 2007 gave donations of $200 or less — amounts so small that the Federal Election Commission doesn’t even demand the givers be named on disclosure reports.

That my friends is one big donor base with a lot more in the well.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Hillary campaign finance story without the obligatory mention that some of the money she’s donating may come from sources that aren't quite kosher.

Meanwhile…John McCain is still going to be the Republican nominee.

Posted by: DrewM. at 04:21 PM | Comments (59)
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When this campaign started 7 or 8 years ago, the conventional wisdom was HillaryÂ’s organization and fund raising prowess would swamp the Democratic field.

Well something funny happened on the way to her coronationÂ…Barrack Obama showed up. Now heÂ’s flush with cash and sheÂ’s dropping her own money into the coffers.

"Late last month Sen. Clinton loaned her campaign $5 million," Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said late yesterday, after he was first questioned about possible Clinton-self-financing in a conference call with reporters.

"The loan illustrates Sen. Clinton's commitment to this effort and to ensuring that our campaign has the resources it needs to compete and win across this nation," he added.

Her senior campaign staff is now working on a volunteer basis.

Obama meanwhile has already raised over $2 million dollars in the first week of February as a follow up to his $30 million take in January. And the most amazing thing?

...according to the Obama campaign, only 3 percent of his donors have given the maximum $2,300 donation for the primary.

Â…In contrast, Clinton raised about half of her money from donors who gave the maximum.

More striking, the report found that nearly half of Obama’s individual contributors in the fourth quarter of 2007 gave donations of $200 or less — amounts so small that the Federal Election Commission doesn’t even demand the givers be named on disclosure reports.

That my friends is one big donor base with a lot more in the well.

Of course, it wouldnÂ’t be a Hillary campaign finance story without the obligatory mention that some of the money sheÂ’s donating may come from sources that aren't quite kosher.

MeanwhileÂ…John McCain is still going to be the Republican nominee.

Posted by: DrewM at 04:21 PM | Comments (59)
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A story highlighting the faultines in American culture: religion and picking up wiener-dog crap.

Thanks to PetiteDov.

Posted by: Ace at 01:54 PM | Comments (46)
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Updated. I just kept adding stuff.

* A lot of conservatives and pundits are calling for McCain to mend fences with the conservative base. There is speculation he'll do so at CPAC. I can't imagine he'll do so.

As someone wrote at the Corner, "Romney is trying to join us. McCain wants us to join him." Having mostly won without conceding an inch to conservatives, and being on the fast track to the nomination, I don't see why on earth Mr. Straight Talk would suddenly tack to the right now. The rule is tack to the right in the primaries, tack to the center once the nomination is secured to better position oneself for the general. The John McCain we're seeing now is likely the most conservative version of him we're ever likely to see.

I think some conservatives are in the bargaining phase of the five steps of grief. The trouble is, we have nothing much to bargain with. Even when we were at our strongest bargaining position, McCain offered us nothing at all.

* On the other hand, he does actually need conservative votes in the general. Everyone says that most conservatives will, in the end, pull the lever for McCain. The war is simply too important. And he is somewhat less liberal than Hillary and Obama.

It's quite true that most of us will vote for McCain. But 51% is "most," and it seems unlikely he could win an election with so much of the base sitting out. How much of the base will he get back? Two thirds? Three quarters? Even assuming three quarters or perhaps 85%, obviously he won't be turning out the base in record numbers like Bush managed in 2004. He's counting on making up for that shortfall with a lot of independents swinging his way.

The trouble with that is there really aren't that many "independent" voters out there. As focus-groupers like Frank Luntz tell us every four years, most of the people claiming to be "independent" are in fact fairly strong leaners towards one party or the other. They like styling themselves as "independents," but they are actually fairly reliable votes for the more-conservative or more-liberal candidate in every election.

Thus the fact is that McCain has just about as many "independents" likely to vote for him as, say, the hardcore conservative Christianist George W. Bush.

He'll pick up more of this vote than Bush did. But the number of true independents, those who really are equally torn between each basic political outlook and who really are equally likely to pull the lever for the R or the D, are a very small segment of the electorate. Grabbing 1 or 2% more votes from this cohort doesn't nearly make up for the 5 or 10% of lost conservative votes.

The fact is that McCain's real path to victory lies with white men who are uncomfortable with Hillary's explicitly sexual politics and Barack Obama's quieter, but still real, racial appeals.

So Mr. Moderate will, in the end, rely upon, if not actively exploit, the sort of racial and sexual discomforts that all his liberal buddies will be aghast at.

More... more...

Posted by: Ace at 11:31 AM | Comments (411)
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On the Alex Jones show couple of days ago.

"I saw those towers fall and I've seen an implosion in Las Vegas -- there's too much similarities between the two, and I saw a building fall that didn't get hit by nothing," added Nelson, referring to WTC Building 7, which collapsed in the late afternoon of September 11.

This is the first real hard evidence I've seen that marijuana might actually be dangerous for you.

[tip: James]

Posted by: Dave In Texas at 11:27 AM | Comments (27)
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Voter suppression from the notorious Republican Chicago Political Machine.

When it comes to election shenanigans, Chicago has been accused of just about everything.

But invisible ink?

Twenty voters at a Far North Side precinct who found their ink pens not working were told by election judges not to worry.

It's invisible ink, officials said. The scanner will count it.

But their votes weren't recorded after all.

"Part of me was thinking it does sound stupid enough to be true,'' said Amy Carlton, who had serious doubts but went ahead and voted anyway.

As it turns out, Carlton was one of 20 voters at the precinct who were given the wrong pen to use. They were also then told, apparently by a misinformed judge, that the pens have invisible ink, elections officials said.

As a result, the votes were not counted. But officials insisted there were no dirty tricks involved.

"This one defies logic,'' said Jim Allen, a spokesman for the Chicago Board of Elections. "You try to anticipate everything. But certain things just ... they go beyond any kind of planning you can perform.''

A "misinformed judge." That would seem to suggest that somewhere along the way he was led to believe that this season we would be marking ballots with invisible ink, right? Anyone buying that?

Thanks to dri.

Posted by: Ace at 10:46 AM | Comments (22)
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The middle class is winning it.

Good video that puts our "vanishing middle class" into perspective. A good pick me up for a depressing day.

Thanks to Ray Midge.

Oh, and some funny bumper stickers from See-Dub.

This one's good. I do miss Fred.

Posted by: Ace at 10:39 AM | Comments (10)
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Math has always been my worst subject, but even I can calculate the meaning of these numbers. Romney ran a professional campaign (with perhaps an over-reliance on negative ads) but in the end just wasn't able to connect to voters.

Even Hugh Hewitt sees the writing on the wall.

Huckabee should have gotten out of the race weeks ago, but for his own reasons stayed in and was essentially the Ross Perot of the GOP primary. Huckabee ran a terrible campaign, full of class-warfare, unproven accusations and religion-baiting and yet was still able to connect to voters, sometimes for the most groan-inducing of reasons.

So it's time to rally behind the new party leader and presumptive nominee... more...

Posted by: Slublog at 09:23 AM | Comments (144)
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....don't wanna talk about it.

The best way of dealing with unpleasant subjects is complete avoidance. As dear ol' Ma always said, "Let it fester."

Hey, here's something:

TALLAHASSEE - Going to a topless bar or paying for a personal escort service could help nursing home residents afford haircuts or movie tickets if lawmakers agree to an unusual new sales tax.

A proposed law, House Bill 751, would create a sales tax on "adult entertainment services'' to provide nursing home residents and others more spending cash.

It's always fun n' easy to pass a law where you take money from people who are viewed as immoral and give it to people who are viewed as needy. Little political risk and you come out looking like a saint.

In the article, Rep. Rick Kriseman (D) shrewdly notes this fact, signaling that there's no social stigma against being a tool in public anymore.

The bill defines those services to "include lingerie, bikini or nude modeling; body shampoos or scrubs; private shower shows; peep shows; nude, seminude or topless dancing; nude, seminude or topless waitressing; lap, friction, couch or table dancing; erotic massages or performances; nude photo sessions; and personal escort services.''

There really was no reason to include that last quote from the article. Just thought you guys would appreciate having your minds diverted to more pleasant thoughts today.

Thanks to Eddiebear.

UPDATE [Dave in Texas]: The Texas legislature passed a "pole tax" here last session.

Bastards.

Posted by: LauraW. at 07:26 AM | Comments (40)
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Newest stuff at the top.

All of Missouri's 58 Delegates Go To McCain. End of the dream?

Huckabee Wins Tennessee and Georgia; McCain Pulls Through and Wins Arizona.

So, like, are we all done here?

Just wondering if you saw the
vote totals, and how wide the margins are...the Dems are outvoting the Pubs by at least 2-1, even in the South. Hillary has more votes in Arkansas than all of the Pubs put together, and Georgia is almost the same. Does this portend a Democratic wave next November, and should I buy a plane ticket to Australia?

North Dakota Caucuses For Romney. Meanwhile, it's a big night for McCain, it seems, mostly because it's a bad night for Romney. The Fox panel, which seem to be somewhat pro-McCain, are debating whether or not Romney can even soldier on.

Huckabee Could Sweep South? He could even win Missouri.

Kristol (a longtime McCain backer) says now there's no way Romney can win the nomination if he can't manage a win (or even a couple of second places) in any southern state.

Worst. Republican. Ticket. Ever.

Oklahoma For McCain. It's by Congressional district so it's unclear what the delegate split will be. But McCain at least gets most.

Exit Polls Fucked? At least on the Democratic side-- seems a lot of Democrats are claiming they voted for the black guy when they really voted for the Whitey McVanillaface. What a shock.

Fox Calls NJ for Hillary. Thank goodness.

Fox Calls Delaware For Obama: Hillary is starting to look like she's going to have a bad, bad night.

CNN Calls Delaware For McCain: Damn, that would have been a nice one for Romney to take.

Massachusetts Goes For Hillary: Whew, my girl needed that. Ted "The Sub-Mariner" Kennedy and John "Jenjis" Kerry couldn't deliver the state for Obamessiah.

Updated Exits: McCAIN AND ROMNEY TIED AT 36% IN ARIZONA: ...and Huckabee continues looking strong in the South.

8pm Results: McCain takes Illinois, New Jersey, and Connecticut, as expected.

Romney takes Massachusetts, as expected.

Huckabee takes Alabama, not quite as expected but he's been surging in the South.

I guess some people just ain't voting for a Mormon, no way no how.

Georgia: Obama swamps Hillary; three-way dogfight on R side.

Obama Crushing? The Dem primaries are mostly (all?) proportionate and not winner-take-all, so Obama's numerous victories may not add up to a big delegate lead:

OBAMA: Alabama: Obama 60, Clinton 37... Arizona: Obama 51, Clinton 45... Connecticut: Obama 53, Clinton 45... Delaware: Obama 56, Clinton 42... Georgia: Obama 75, Clinton 26... Illinois: Obama 70, Clinton 30... Massachusetts: Obama 50, Clinton 48... Missouri: Obama 50, Clinton 46... New Jersey: Obama 53, Clinton 47...

CLINTON: Arkansas: Clinton 72, Obama 26... California: Clinton 50, Obama 47... New York: Clinton 56, Obama 43... Oklahoma: Clinton 61, Obama 31... Tennessee: Clinton 52, Obama 41...

On FoxNews, they're bandying the notion that Obama wins the popular vote tonight but falls a bit behind in delegates, and they're wondering if the superdelegates Hillary is counting on can really vote for her in the face of an Obama popular vote victory. They bring up the constant "selected, not elected" rallying cry of the Gore campaign and how Democrats have to a man agreed that the winner of the popular vote should win the race, even if he doesn't technically win.

Posted by: Ace at 05:55 PM | Comments (511)
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